VIA technologies and Intel announced that they reached an agreement; both companies will drop their pending legal claims against each other. More, VIA is now allowed to produce chips “compatible with the x86 instruction set but not pin compatible or bus compatible with Intel microprocessors.
Intel further agreed for a period of three years, not to assert its patents on VIA bus or pin compatible microprocessors. Intel also granted VIA a four year license to design and sell chipsets that are compatible with the Intel microprocessor bus and agreed not to assert its patents on VIA or its customers or distributors on such chipsets for a fifth year.”
Both companies also agreed to a ten-year patent cross license agreement covering each company’s. So it looks like VIA is finally allowed to sell their P4X400 and other (new?) chipsets for the Pentium 4 bus.
Intel’s official press release is to be found here.
VIA’s official press release is located here.
